


Hallway Wanderings

by letthebookbegin



Series: Parental FMA Week [1]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-07 05:28:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13427769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/letthebookbegin/pseuds/letthebookbegin
Summary: It's amazing how many things you can bump into in a military hotel in the middle of the night.





	Hallway Wanderings

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea what this is haha, I just kept writing and this came out '^^ for the first day of parental FMA week on tumblr!

It was the darkest part of the night, a time when anything felt possible, and in the military hotels, the night was full of the sounds of creatures trying not to be heard. Roy Mustang had left his team to go to the bathroom, and was now regretting it.

‘Okay, so I turn left here, then right up ahead,’ he muttered to himself, trying to fill the gaping silence, ‘No, wait – these door numbers go down? That’s fine, I’ll just go back the way I came… That creaking sound is probably just someone opening their door… I’ll turn left here then. The creaking is just getting louder because I’m moving towards it… Maybe I’ll put on my gloves, just in case. Left again here… Keep going forward… It’s probably just some kid who keeps opening and closing the door while their parents sleep. Turn right he- AAAAAAAAAHHHH-lphonse?’ The colonel gasped, knocked to the floor by the creaking suit of armour.

‘Colonel! Sorry!’ Alphonse cried, before remembering most of the building still slept. ‘Sorry.’ He repeated in a whisper, helping Roy up.

‘What are you doing here? Isn’t it past your bedtime?’ The colonel whispered, trying to calm his terrified heart.

‘Um..’ Al rubbed the back of his neck. ‘Actually, I can’t sleep. This body can’t sleep.’

The colonel felt his face pull into a frown. The ghost of a memory flitted through his mind; shouting at the brothers, furious at the laws they had transgressed. Al sobbing the words _‘We’re sorry… We’re sorry…’_ over and over. The searing realisation that he did not need to keep reprimanding them; they had been punished enough.

‘I went for a walk, but on the way back I forgot our door number.’ Al confided. ‘I’m glad I found you, Colonel, this place is sort of creepy.’

‘Well,’ Roy said, clearing his throat and brushing himself off, ‘Good thing you have a fearless soldier beside you then. We can go to reception and ask there where you’re staying, if no one’s there you can stay with us until the morning. The whole team’s here.’

‘Oh, thanks!’ Al said brightly, and Mustang imagined the boy was smiling. ‘What are you doing here, anyway?’

‘They’re deep-cleaning headquarters tonight, whatever that means, so we got kicked out. We’re working here for the night, our paperwork situation has gotten terrible.’

‘Oh, so you’re trying to hide from doing your share?’

‘Wha-? No!’ The colonel exclaimed, astonished at how quickly the sweet 12-year-old boy had pegged him. ‘No, no, I was just going to the bathroom. I would never shirk my work. Teamwork- teamwork and hard work are very important values in life, you know.’

Al laughed. ‘Okay. Um, weren’t we supposed to turn right there?’

Damn _._ ‘Nope.’

Al looked at him, confused. ‘Are you sure?’

How does a suit of armour convey emotion so well? ‘Yup, pretty sure. It’s this way.’ The colonel replied, lying through his teeth. We’re sure to end up at reception eventually. Don’t need to let the kid know I’m lost.

They fell into silence again, the silence of the night bearing down on them. The shadows on the wall – how did shadows appear when it was dark all around? – seemed longer and more than they should be. Soon, the creaking of Al’s armour was the loudest sound, loud enough to mask the soft footsteps of _something_ in the corridor ahead of them.

‘Colonel?’ Al whispered.

‘I’m here.’ Roy replied, touching the boy’s arm, though he couldn’t feel it. ‘I think we go right here.’

‘Oka- AAAAHHHHHH!’ Once more, the two found themselves knocked over on the floor and screaming, but this time their voices mingled with someone else’s. The colonel clicked his fingers and a flame reared up, larger than he had meant it to be in his fear, illuminating the wide-eyed face of Edward Elric.

‘Fullmetal!’

‘YOU-!’

‘Ed!’

‘Al!’

‘What are you doing here?’ Al asked, helping his brother and a disgruntled colonel up.

‘What are _you_ doing here? I woke up and you were gone!’

‘I went for a walk! I left a note on the bed.’

‘I didn’t see anything.’

‘Well, that’s not my fault.’

‘It is if you folded the paper until it was tiny again!’

‘I-’

‘Did you hear that?’ Roy hissed, interrupting the brothers. The three stepped closer to each other, looking out into the dark.

‘It’s probably nothing,’ Roy added hastily, ‘Maybe someone else is going for a midnight stroll.’

A figure appeared in the dark. ‘Colonel…’

Roy gulped. As one, Ed and Al stepped away, abandoning him to his doom.

‘ _Colonel…_ ’

Roy took a deep breath and relit his flame. The fire flickered, smaller than usual, and lit up the face of Riza Hawkeye.

‘Lieutenant Hawkeye!’ The Elric brothers exclaimed, rushing towards her with reassured grins. Roy was not as relieved.

Riza took a moment to smile at the boys before turning to her superior. Roy tried for a disarming smile.

‘Hello, sir. You weren’t, by any chance, avoiding paperwork, were you?’

It was the darkest part of the night, and for some in the military hotels, their horrors did not fade with the light of the fire.


End file.
